The deaf are one of the largest unreached people groups on earth. People with so much promise and personality are locked in a world of hopeless silence. God has given them a beautiful “golden key” in the form of a visual language, to allow them to learn of HIM. Sign Language has some very unique qualities that spoken languages do not have. I was presented the Gospel in ASL as an employee at Gallaudet University, a Deaf University in Washington, DC. I was very hostile previously to anything related to Christianity. The beauty of the visual languages allowed me to finally understand the truth of God’s Word for the first time.

As “Julia”, a Bible Translator from Wycliffe explains…. “Signed languages across the world are unique. They’re visual languages. And so they’re three dimensional and very expressive in ways that oral and spoken languages can’t even dream of.” Finding deaf children and giving them first the gift of the “golden key” of a visual language allows them to unlock the beautiful truths of the Gospel of Christ, as it did for me. They can then learn of a God who loves them and has a good future and plan for their lives, and enter into His kingdom.

Even though the deaf believe that they are very isolated, they have no idea that they actually belong to two large global communities who cherish and value them. The first are the many brothers and sisters in Christ, after they are born into God’s family. The second is the tight-knit global Deaf community. Visual language bonds them together, regardless of country and culture. They are Very Precious to the Heart of God.

To learn more, go to http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/the-deaf .

 

Moises, 5 year old Deaf Indigenous child